Hydraulically-shiftable-saw edger machine



y 1950 L. J. PETERS 2,507,644

HYDRAUL-ICALLY-SHIFTABLE-SAW EDGER MACHINE Filed Sept. 26, 1947 5 SheetsSheet l INVENTOR. LESTf/Q d PETERS BY 5, Q. flw M A TTORNE Y May 16, 1950 J. PETERS HYDRAULICALLY-SHIFTABLE-SAW EDGER MACHINE Filed Sept. 26, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR LE$TER d. PETE/F5 ATTORNEY May 16, 1950 L. J. PETERS HYDRAULICALLY-SHIFTABLE-SAW EDGER MACHINE Filed Sept. 26, 1947 5 Sheets Sheet 3 INVENTOR LfJTE/i" d PETE/x 5 ATTORNEY y 16, 1950 J. PETERS 2,507,644

HYDRAULICALLY-SHIFTABLE-SAW EDGER MACHINE Filed Sept. 26, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 34 mm-5o g:

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, INVENTOR. 84 85 LESTER! PETE/F5 BY LZ- ATTORNEY May 16, 1950 1.. J. PETERS 2,507,644

HYDRAULICALLYSHIFTABLE-SAW EDGER MACHINE Filed Sept. 26, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR LEJTER J. PfTE/PS A TTORNE Y Patented May 16, 1950 HYDRAULICALLY- SHIFTABLE SAW EDGER MACHINE Lester J. Peters, Portland, Oreg.; Dora H. Peters executrix of said Lester J. Peters, deceased Application September 26, 1947, Serial No. 776,184

7 Claims. 1

My present invention relates to an edger for trimming the edges of slabs as they come from a sawmill. The invention may be of utility in other fields, for example in subdividing and trimming sheets of board made of fibrous stock, and subdividing plywood sheets, or in any other similar field of activity.

The principal object of the present invention is to increase the output per man hour of a sawmill. Many improvements have been made in sawmill machinery whereby the number of board feet of logs capable of being cut into slabs of rough stock has been materially increased. The object of the present invention is to provide an edger or subdivider of materially increased operating characteristics whereby the production of board stock is kept up with the increased production of slab stock resulting from the improvements in the sawmill.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide means for controlling a shiftable saw or saws in a rapid and accurate manner. By the use of the present invention, the edger operator is able to set the edger to handle slabs as fast as they come to the edger from the sawmill. In edging operations an experienced operator quickly judges the amount of waste edge which must be cut from a slab in order to provide a rectangular board free of beveled irregular edges and the widths and number of boards which may be cut from a slab, regardless of the irregularities thereof, or the amount of taper from butt to tree top end of the slab. If the slab is relatively narrow it might be that only one standard board could be cut from the slab, but if narrow stock is desired, or if a wide slab is being trimmed, a plurality of standard boards may be formed therefrom. Board widths are more or less standardized at the present time but the operator may have a choice of possible combinations of board widths in order to utilize the greatest amount of the slab. It is a primary object of the present invention to make the setting of at least one, or perhaps several, of a gang of saws so simple and so quickly accomplished that there would be no excuse for inefiicient trimming or division of each slab.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an edger and subdivider which may be operated to feed in a forward direction or in a reverse direction so as to enable the operator to remove broken slabs which might have become jammed in the equipment, or to retrieve a trimmed section and further subdivide it into smaller boards. A further object of the present invention is to provide an edger with feeding means including driven rolls and superimposed press rolls which are forced against the top of the slab by hydraulic means permitting floating action of the press rolls, in order to avoid damage in the event that a section of trim or the like would become lodged on top of the slab being trimmed.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an edger with means whereby the positions of the saws are set by hydraulically operated means including a pump driven by the motor driving saws so that only one connection to the edger need be achieved, that is the connection between the edger and the motive means therefor, thus permitting rapid displacement of the edger from position to position as is the practice in modern portable sawmill operations.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an edger with a fluted arbor upon which a plurality of saws are slidably mounted, and a frame for mounting the arbor, the connection between the frame and the arbor being of such character that rapid removal of the arbor and replacement thereof by a substitute arbor is readily permitted. This object prevents delays of long duration, since if a saw or saws should become dull or damaged an entire substitute arbor may be set to work within a relatively short period of time. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an edger with means whereby quick interchangeability of saw assemblies may be accomplished.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an edger wherein alignment of the saws and feed rolls may be rapidly and easily accomplished.

A further object of the present invention is to provide means whereby the safety of the sawmill operation is enhanced, the construction being such that a break in the slab being trimmed will not result in the propulsion of broken pieces of board into the zones occupied by the operators of the sawmill.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, taken in connection with the following specification referring to the drawings by like numerals throughout, while the features of novelty will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings- Fig. l is a front view in elevation of an edger Fig. '7 (sheet 3) is a horizontal section on. an.

enlarged scale taken substantially along line l"--'l of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale taken substantially along line 8-8-of Fig. 1;

Fig. 9 is a vertical section taken substantially along line 99 of Fig. 8 and illustrating a saw controllin switch in neutral position;

Fig. 10 (sheet 4) is a. view similar to Fig. 9

showing the switch in one operating position;

and

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating the connection of a saw to a saw shifting means and saw controlling switch.

The present invention preferably comprises a platform 10 made in the form of a skid whereby the edger ma be moved from locality to locality or slid up and down ramps leading to the top of the-usual sawmill framework. Mounted upon the skid is a substantially hollow frame comprising a front lower wall H, a. front upper. wall l2:, a rear lower wall l3, and a rear upper wall I5, anda removableaccess plate is forming, with the inwardly bent portions of the upper front and rear walls I2 and I5, a top wall. The front wall is provided with short, inwardly extending flanges forming a rectangular opening. I! and the rear wall is provided with a similarly-formed opening ill in alignment with the opening ll. A slab to be trimmed is fed into the opening I! between a fluted feed roll 19 and a press roll-20 and into engagement with a plurality of saws 2| by means of which it is trimmed or subdivided.

The trimmed pieces pass between a fluted feed roll 22 and an upper press roll 23 and out ofthe edger'through the opening it.

Saw control As seen in Figs. 2, 4, 5 and 6 the saws 2 I, which are preferably four in number but may be more or less if desired, comprise toothed discs which are mounted upon hubs 33. The hubs are provided with splines engaging in the grooves of the flutedarbor 3| so that the saws may be shifted I longitudinally of the arbor while being driven thereby. The arbor 3! is connected to the shaft of a motor 32, or other prime mover, througha flexible couple 33 (Fig. 1). The motor 32' is employed where a source of power such as a movable generating unit or nearby power line is available, but an prime mover such-as an internal combustion engine may be substituted therefor. Each saw is straddled by a saw shifting member preferably comprising a pair of arms extending forwardly from the top of a vertical split bar 34. The arms are spaced to provide a slot wide enough to receive the saw blade and the forward extremities thereof are provided with hardwood or fiber inserts which lightly brush the smooth surface of the saw. Lateral shifting of the split bar 34 will therefore result in shifting of the saw along the arbor 3!. The split bar 34 is clamped about a plurality of piston rods 33 extending paralleltothe arbor 3| and positioned in a vertical row. As seen in Fig. 5, there are four shifting members, one for each saw, and one of each of the piston rods 35 is connected to one of the saws through one of the shifting members. The split block 34 is provided with openings therethrough, one of which is of smaller diameter than the other three so that it may be clamped to one of the piston rods to be moved thereby while being slidably guided by the other three.

The piston rods 36 extend through packing glands mounted-on the end walls 48 and 4| of the frame of the machine (Fig. 7) into cylinders 31 and 38 respectively. Fluid under pressure may beforced into the cylinders 37 through tubes 43 to force the piston rods to move in a forward direction or toward the right of Fig. 1, or fluid may be forced into the cylinders 38 through similar connections 44 (Fig. 11) to cause the piston rods to move toward the left of Fig. 1.

The fluid for operating the piston rods 36 is contained in a. sump 35 mounted inside of' the lower rear wall l3, the-sump being provided with a removable access door 46. A pump 4'! is mounted'in the sump and driven by a shaft 48 which extends through the wall and supports a pulley 50 which is connected by belt 5! to. a pulley 52 mounted on arbor 3|. The pump draws fluid from the sump through its suction inlet 53 and forces it through a pressure tube 55 into. a two-way valve 56 (Fig. 11). The valve 56'is controlled by a rod 5'! having a lever 58 extending upwardly therefrom at the left end of the frame. When the lever is in its normal position the valve 55 causes the output. of the pump to return to the sump through a, return tube 59. When the lever 58 is shiftedto operating position the return tube is closed and the output of the pump goes to a supply tube t0 having a plurality of branches 6| leading to a pluralit of solenoid valves 62. There is a pair of valves 62 for each piston 36, only one pair being illustrated in Fig. 11 for the sake of simplicity.

One of the valves 62 of each pair is controlled by a solenoid l0 and the other by a solenoidll. The solenoids are arranged in parallel in a valve controlling circuit including a source of' current such as the transformer 12 and a two-way switch 13. connected by wire 15 with one side of the output coil of the transformer 12. The contact 14 is located in a box 16 (Figs. 8 to 10) mounted upon a plate 17 bridging the gap between a rear plate '58 and a front plate 19 and forming part of a housing for a switch arm fixed to a rod 8| extending between plates 18 and 79. Arm 80 is in frictional engagement with a fixed friction device 82 so as to be held thereby in any of several selected positions. Fixed to the rod 8i and depending therefrom is bifurcated member 83 having outwardly curved arms defining a notch-therebetween in which may be received the end of a switch operator comprising a rod 84 extending rearwardly from a vertical bar 85. The bar 85 is fixed to a piston control tube 86 (Fig. 11) guided by a rod 81 (Fig. 1). The tube extends through the wall ll and is attached to a lug 88 extending from one of the split bars 36 (Fig. 2). Accordingly as the piston rod 36 moves the switch operator 84 is moved to the same extent in the same direction, thus rocking the bifurcated member 83 from a neutral Vertical position illustrated in Fig. 9 to one side or the other as illustrated in Fig. 10, the switch arm being heldinany of the positions by frictional The switch 13 includes a double contact 14' engagement thereof with the friction member 82. The upper end of the operating arm 30 is rounded and shaped to engage with one or the other of a pair of contact arms 90 and 9| extending into the switch box I6 in position to complete circuits including the double contact I4. If the member 90 is moved to closed position a circuit is completed including the wire 92 and solenoid III to thereby move valve 02 from its normal position in which tube 43 is connected to a drain tube 93 leading to the sump 45 and the supply tube 6| is closed to an operating position in which supply tube 6| is connected to cylinder 31 and the drain tube 93 is closed. If the member 9| is moved to closed position a circuit is completed including wire 95, solenoid II and transformer I2, thereby causing fluid to flow into the cylinder 38. The members 90 and 9| are arranged in any convenient manner to move to switch opening position when released by the operating arm 80. Further details of the switches and valves are thought to be unnecessary since many such devices are known and readily available. Likewise pressure relief valves for preventing damage are not herein illustrated.

The plate I9 is mounted upon a carriage I (Fig. 8) having wheels IOI thereon engageable with a hollow bar I02 having a longitudinal slot in the bottom thereof through which the upper ends of the bars 85 extend, each bar being supported, such as by means of a pair of wheels I03 ridin in the hollow bar on opposite sides of the slot therethrough. The bar I 02 is mounted within a support including a sloping wall I04 having a scale therealong and a vertical front wall I05 having an identical scale therealong. The sloping wall I04 is provided with a, longitudinal slot through which extends a manually engageable knob I06 fixed to the carriage I00 and supporting a pointer I01 movable past the scale on wall I04. A pointer I03 is fastened to each vertical bar 85 and moves alon the scale on vertical wall I05.

Operation of saw shifting mechanism When the operator determines the amount of trim and the width of the boards which may be cut from a slab he moves one or several of the carriages I00 to the points indicated by the scale on wall I04. Movement of a carriage causes the switch operator 84 to swing the switch operating arm 80 from the position shown in Fig. 9 to a position such as shown in Fig. 10, thereby completing a circuit to one of the solenoids I0 or II and opening the valve 62 associated therewith. The operator then shifts lever 58 to connect the pump to the selected cylinder whereupon the piston rod 36 and saw 2| move in the direction in which the carriage I00 has been moved until the switch operator 84- engages the bifurcated arm 83 and swings the switch arm 00 to a neutral position, whereupon the solenoid valve is closed and the output of the pump returns to the sump. Thereafter lever 53 may be shifted to close Valve 56 and cause the pump output to return to the sump. The movement of the saw shifter at the same time shifts the vertical pointer I08 along the scale on vertical wall I05 so that the operator may determine that the saw has moved to the exact point desired. The saw blades remain running while shifting takes place and the shifting may occur in a very short period of time.

Feeding mechanism The shafts of roll I9 and 22 extend through the end walls 40 and 4| and are journaled in ring bearings mounted in collars H0 and III (Fig. 3) respectively through which extend a plurality of studs II2 by means of which alignment of the feed rolls with the arbor 3| may be accomplished. The openings through the walls in which the rings are mounted are preferably of such diameter as to permit endwise dislocation of the feed rolls. Above the saw blades there is mounted a pair of heavy rods H4 and H5, the rods extending through rings H6 and II! respectively which support a plurality of adjustin studs 3 whereby alignment of the rods H5 and H6 may be rapidly accomplished. The rod 5 pivotally supports a pair of levers I20 (Fig. 2) suitably connected to move as a unit and which embrace the ends of a shaft I2I supporting the press roll 23, and the rod II4 supports a similar pair of levers I22 connected together to move as a unit and which support a shaft I23 upon which press roll 20 is mounted. A bracket I24 extends upward from the frame connecting levers I22 and pivotally supports an end of a piston I25 which extend into a cylinder I25. The end of cylinder I26 is provided with a rod I27 which extends through an opening in wall I2 and has an adjustable nut I28 mounted thereon, the nut retaining a, spring I30 under compression against the wall I2. A link I3I is pivoted at its upper end to a rod between the short arms of levers I20 and is provided with a slot I32 embracing a, pivot rod connecting the short arms of levers I22.

The shafts of feed rolls I9 and 22 mount a pair of sprocket gears I34 (Fig. 3) and I35 respectively which engage a sprocket chain I36 extending thereabout and which also engage a sprocket gear I31 (Fig. 1) on the shaft of a fluid motor I40 mounted on the skid. The fluid motor is connected to a source of fluid pressure, such as the pump 4'! through a tube MI and a tube I42 leading back to fluid storage, such as sump 45. A lever I43 is connected to a valve in a valve housing I44 which encloses other valves, as for example the valve 56 operated by lever 58, for controlling the admission of fluid under pressure to the fluid motor I40 and the direction of flow thereof. As is well known in the art many fluid motors may operate in either direction so that fluid might flow through tube I4| into the motor and back to the sump through tube I42, or the reverse, as controlled by the position of lever I43. Lever I43 may also be shifted to a neutral position to stop the flow of fluid to the motor so that the rolls may remain stationary. Details of many Valves for controlling the motor I40 are known to the art.

The cylinder I26 may likewise be connected to a source of fluid pressure such as the pump 41 under control of a lever I extending to a valve in valve housing M4 and so arranged as to extend piston I25 when it is desired to lower the rolls into engagement with the upper surface of the slab being fed by rollers I9 and 22. The spring I30 may yield to accommodate irregularities in slab thickness too small to justify a change in the setting of the press rolls, or to permit yielding of the press rolls in the event that some obstruction such as a piece of trim should accidentally become caught between the slab and the press rolls or feed rolls.

A horizontal lever Iiii extends to an accessible but not readily convenient position and maybe engaged by the operator to shift a pressure reducing valve I52 located in the supply line to the fluid motor I40, thereby permittin altera- 7 tion of. the speed of the feed rolls and therefore the rate of feed. of the slab into the saws. This is desirable to permit fast feeding of thin slabs and slower feeding of thick slabs for most efficient operation of the saws without damage to the wood.

It i to be remarked that the framing connecting the levers. I20 and levers I22 is preferably very rugged and in the shape of heavy channel members so'that any pieces of wood which might be thrown upward due to breakage of the slab or the like will be arrested rather than projected through the walls of. the frame.

Asi-soOn as the operator has set the saws at the desired position he may start the slab. into the edger byv positioning it between the roll I9 and 20which feed the slab forward at the desired rate into the saws 2|, the separated strips being thereafter engaged by the exit rolls and fed from the edger. The speed of feeding ma be rapidly adjusted if desired. If the operator should desire to further divide one or more pieces, he may reverse the direction of'rotation of the feed rolls as soon as the noise of the'saw ceases, Whereupon the pieces will be fed back to him at the front of the machine. He may thereupon readjust the saws and send the pieces through the machine for further division.

Saw arbor mounting Each end of the arbor 3| passes through a mounting disc I60 (Fig. 4) which is provided witha plurality of recesses IIiI (Fig. 3) along its periphery to provide a plurality of spaced lands which may be machined accurately to fit into a circular opening I62 cut through the end wall of the frame. Adjacent the center of each recess there is provided a hook I63 adapted to embrace bolts. I64 threaded into the end wall. The narrow width of the lands between the recesses IEI permits accurate machining and easy placement of the disc I 60 in its respective opening, and rotation thereof to engage the hooks I63 with the studs E54, whereuponthe studs IEfimay be tightened to hold the disc in position. An inner bearing raceway IE5 is firmly seated upon a collar H56 fastened about the arbor 3 I. by methods involving differential heating and subsequent cooling to assure firm frictional engagement. The raceway is preferably of the double tapered type to engage combination thrust and rotation bearing rollers retained in an outer raceway I61 which is adapted to be mounted in an annular recess in a central opening through the disc 60 and a collar I68 reinforcing the edge of the opening. A second collar I69 is bolted to the collar I68 by bolts I and seats an oil seal I'M. A similar collar H2 is welded to the inner surface of the disc and seats an oil seal I73. A retainer or spacer I may be mounted upon the collar I 66 to position the inner raceway I55.

In order to replace broken or dull saws the flexible coupling 33 and belt 5! may be disconnected. The end caps I59 may then he slipped off of the shaft to permit disengagement of the locking collars I15. The bolts I64 may be loosened and the discs I60 partially rotated to disengage the hooks I 63 whereupon the discs I60 may be removed by sliding them longitudinally of the shaft. The arbor with its saws may now be withdrawn from the frame and a substitute arbor and saws may be mounted in position, or substitute saws may be mounted upon the withdrawn arbor, whereupon the machine may be quickly reassembled.

I have herein illustrated and described. a preferred embodiment of the present invention but it should be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications in detail and arrangement are permissible. All such modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the appended claims are considered to be a part of my invention.

I claim:

1. An edger or the like comprising an arbor, a plurality of disc saws mounted on said arbor and slidable therealong, a plurality of saw shifting members each engaging one of said saws for controlling the position thereof along said arbor, a plurality of cylinder and piston means each including a reciprocable piston rod, each of said piston rods being operatively connected to a separate one of said saw shifting members, means for moving said piston rods independently of each other including a plurality of piston rod controlling valves arranged in pairs, each pair ofpiston rod controlling valves comprising on valve operatively associated with one of said piston rods for moving it in one direction and a second valve operatively associated with said one piston rod for movin it in the opposite direction, a support associated with said arbor, a plurality of switch assemblies slidably mounted on said support and manually movable therealong independently of each other, a control circuit including a plurality of valve operators each individually associated with one of said piston rod controlling valves, said control circuit including switch means in each of said switch assemblies, each of said switch means controlling a pair of said valve operators, and a switch arm movable from a neutral position in either direction to close one of said switch means, and a plurality of switch operators each connected to and movable with one of said saw shifting members and operatively engageable with one of said switch arms.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said switch arms comprises a bifurcated end so positioned as to straddle its associated switch operator when in neutral position, said switch arm being rockable by said switch operator in either direction to complete a valve controlling circuit.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said switch assemblies includes a pivoted switch arm, a bifurcated member comiected to said arm and so positioned as to straddle the associated switch operator when in neutral position, and friction means engaging said arm to hold it in whatever position it is moved to by said operator.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said switch assemblies comprises a manually shiftable carriage including a first pointer, said support includes a scale along which said first pointers move, each of said switch operators includes a second pointer movable therewith, and said support includes a scale along which said second pointers move.

5. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein a manually shiftable carriage supports each of said switch assemblies, and said support includes a scale along which said carriage moves.

6. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said switch assemblies includes a pointer, and said support includes a scale along which said pointers move.

'7. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said switch assemblies includes a first pointer and said support includes a scale along 9 which said first pointers move, and each of said switch operators includes a second pointer movable therewith.

LESTER J. PETERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 259,702 McDonough June 20, 1882 428,940 Patullo May 27, 1890 Number Number 

